Delta Blues Riders - Biography

Delta Blues Riders was born in 2015, performing their first concerts at Jazz and Blues clubs in Portugal. In the initial lineup, Paulo Veloso, Jorge Loura and Miguel Pardal also have the legendary bassist António Ferro, and other guest musicians also performed with the band, such as Jorge Oliveira on drums, Alexandre Almeida on the electric guitar, Bruno Barreto on the bass, Gabriel Neves on saxophone, Susana Brochado on the bass and José Carlos “Mãozinhas” on the guitar.

In February 2017 Delta Blues Riders performs their first concert at a Blues Festival. It will be in Vila do Conde, Vila Sessions, that the band makes the first impact on a memorable concert that will be recorded in audio and video. This moment marks a turning point in the band that is beginning to draw the attention of the public and the Blues promoters nationwide.

Thus, in May of the same year, the band is invited to inaugurate a new Blues Festival in Porto - the Porto Blues Fest. The following month, Delta Blues Riders performs at JazzMinde.

In addition to the dozens of concerts in Portugal, 2017 was also marked by the concert at the Blues Festival in Viana, with great attendance at this Wine & Blues Fest.

 In 2018, a new challenge arises for Delta Blues Riders. This time, it will be with Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen from New Orleans that the band presents a Blues and Soul show, showing greater closeness and maturity to the roots of Blues! It was at Port Blues Fest that Delta Blues Riders with Pat “Mother Blues” Cohen made a strong impression.

In the same year, Delta Blues Riders performed in dozens of concerts throughout the country, namely the Arruda dos Vinhos jazz festival “There is Jazz in the Terreiro”, the Guarda Blues Festival, the Caloura Blues in the Azores, the António Lamoso Cineteatro in Santa Maria da Feira, at the Channels Festival - Aveiro, among others….

Recognized as one of the best and most charismatic Blues bands nationwide, Delta Blues Riders is chosen to represent Portugal at the European Blues Challenge 2019.

The European Blues Challenge 2019 was attended by 22 European bands, and the  presentations of the top Portuguese bands (Messias and the Hot Tones, Vitor Bacalhau and Budda Power Blues). Among them, Delta Blues Riders has stood out and is invited to perform in what is one of Europe's largest and most charismatic Blues festivals: - Suwalki Blues Fest in Poland. 

Thus sharing the main stage with charismatic names such as Lucky Peterson and Kenny Wayne Shepherd.

Delta Blues Riders' concert at Suwalki Blues Best was critically acclaimed, describing the band's performance as being so genuine that doubts hovered over whether the band was really American.

It was in Poland that Delta Blues Riders presented their live Blues album “Qualified”, a compilation of live performances of 2017 and 2018, as well as an original blues / gospel called “The Drifter”.

In 2019, Delta Blues Riders also performed at the Santa Maria Blues Festivals - Azores, Jazz Alem-Tejo, Reguengos Wine & Blues Fest, Maia Blues Fest, among others.

Delta Blues Riders usually performs in a quartet, with Paulo Veloso on vocals, piano, resonator guitar, harmonica and sometimes on the hammond organ, with Jorge Loura on electric guitar, Ricardo Melo on bass or double bass and Miguel Pardal on drums .